We were born into the optimistic Eisenhower, post-World War II era – in the heart of the Baby Boom. Most of us lived in a two parent household, with the mom who stayed home and cared for the house and children, and a father who went off to his blue collar job in his gray work clothes, carrying his lunch pail. Some mothers, like mine, did part-time work to help make ends meet.

None of us had computers or microwaves, or electronic devices of any kind, except for big black and white TVs – usually housed in a place of honor in the living room – and transistor radios. We didn’t lock our homes or cars, and weren’t fearful of our neighbors or strangers. We roller skated and rode bikes without helmets, and often gave each other rides on the front bar or back bumper. It was common to see someone riding down a hill behind the “driver” of a bicycle with legs splayed out and hanging on for dear life. We played neighborhood games like Hide and Seek, Touch Football, or Kick the Can.

If there were drugs around I was – and am – completely unaware of it. The only gangs I knew of were like the Little Rascals: they were just the group of kids you played with on a daily basis. Half a century later, that time does indeed seem idyllic. Fun for a kid growing up in the mid-late fifties really was ‘good’ and ‘clean’.

By the early sixties the world was changing, and by the time we arrived in high school we had been reluctant witnesses to John Kennedy’s assassination, civil rights unrest, the ongoing Viet Nam war, and the beginning of the student protests and riots. Without fully understanding the issues, I was frightened of it all. At the time I didn’t want my world to change, and in my protected little world it really didn’t.

In the haven called Camarillo (although we didn’t necessarily see it as a haven at the time), we were truly blessed in so many ways, and my experiences in high school, and especially in music, were a continuation of the good stuff…

This site is a collection of my recollections and the memorabilia I have of the years 1966 through 1970. It’s really just a scrapbook. If you were part of The Choraliers, West Side Story, The Fantasticks or The Today Generation, I hope you will enjoy sharing these memories with me. Please share your thoughts and memories here too! If not, maybe you’d just like to see what was like in my world…